The woman behind BBC's Stargazing and The Great British Bake Off and a Google executive are among five contenders in the frame to take over as director of BBC Vision, following George Entwistle's promotion.

Emma Swain, head of knowledge commissioning at the corporation, is considered a rising star after captivating audiences with unlikely hits such as the Great British Bake Off, while Google Europe's communications chief Peter Barron is considered in with a chance if he wanted to return to the BBC where he edited Newsnight for four years.

The 44-year old Australian was stung by the level of criticism levelled at her during Miriam O'Reilly's acrimonious age discrimination case, launched after Hunt moved Countryfile into peak time and dropped its older presenters.

Yet she has proved she is not afraid to change her mind if it is the best career choice.

In 2007 she left the corporation for Channel 5 only to be welcomed back with open arms within months after Peter Fincham's departure in the wake of the Crowngate scandal following the release of a trailer for the series A Year with the Queen appearing to show the monarch storming out of a photoshoot.

Sources close to Hunt, however, have said she is not interested in applying for the role.

Cohen, who replaced Hunt running BBC1 in October 2010, has been responsible for hits including Call The Midwife and more disappointing fare such as David Jason's The Royal Bodyguard and talent show The Voice.

He was controller at BBC3, where he commissioned shows including Being Human, and prior to that worked at Channel 4 on shows such as The Inbetweeners, Skins and Supernanny.

Some BBC insiders believe that Entwistle's No 2, Swain, is the most natural candidate to take over.

Swain, described in a recent interview as "one of the most powerful people in the BBC you have never heard of", was promoted last year to the controller of knowledge commissioning with a hefty £225m budget.

A previous controller of BBC Daytime programming who spent a brief stint in 2007 running BBC3, has been responsible for commissioning shows including BBC2 shows Stargazing and The Great British Bake Off.

She first started working for the BBC in 1996 and has commissioned Don't Tell the Bride and Kill It Cook It Eat It.

Alison Kirkham, appointed as the BBC's commissioning editor for factual features and formats for BBC1 and BBC2, has also been raised as a contender.

Kirkham joined the BBC in 2005 as an executive producer on BBC Daytime.

She started her career in broadcast assistant on Radio 4's Today programme in 1998 and has held production and editor roles on programmes including ITV's This Morning, Tonight with Trevor McDonald, Channel 4's Richard & Judy and I'm A Celebrity ...

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